


Warmth in the Cold Winter

by lemon_and_chai



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-27
Updated: 2013-10-27
Packaged: 2017-12-30 14:54:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1020012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lemon_and_chai/pseuds/lemon_and_chai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>KuroFai Secret Santa - Response to prompt from darkfireburning:</p>
<p>
  <i>"Kurogane is surprised that Fai, out of all people, is able to find so much warmth and happiness in the cold season."</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warmth in the Cold Winter

**Author's Note:**

> Written for KuroFai Secret Santa - Response to prompt from :
> 
> _"Kurogane is surprised that Fai, out of all people, is able to find so much warmth and happiness in the cold season._
> 
> _I would prefer an AU of some sort (mostly because this is a tad bit overdone in canon ^^'), but that's not a very big deal. A more serious undertone with little bits of fluff would be nice (I'm such a killjoy XD), but once again, not very important."_
> 
> My apologies in advance. ^^; Any attempt I made at fulfilling this prompt while sticking to AU required so much back story, that I couldn't figure it out - so I threw the prompt at my friend, who tossed back some ideas. The Little Match Girl was the first one that came to her mind...

Kurogane cussed under his breath the moment he stepped out of the office, the sharp contrast from the warmed building to the chilling outdoor air striking his exposed cheeks. But real men don't wear scarves, so he kept the one Tomoyo had forced on him draped over his arm and stomped out into the snow.

A dull grey covered the walkway, glittering white wherever the streetlight fell, and blanketed all of the building fronts for as far as he could see. At least the street had been plowed, and the black haired bodyguard joined the other passerbys on the cleared asphalt as he headed towards the station.

He trudged along, and was enjoying the quiet brought on by everyone being freezing cold, when said quiet was shattered by a man's harsh yell, "Don't touch me, filthy street rat!"

Kurogane glared towards the noise just in time to see a well bundled man strike down, slapping a boy who'd been holding something up to him. The sound of skin striking skin resonated in the cold air, as the boy was knocked off balance. He stumbled back a few steps before falling on his bottom, the shopping basket in his arm going sideways and spilling out the many little things that had been in it.

The other pedestrians were already back on their way, minding their own business, and Kurogane normally would have joined them. But even more than people being noisy, assholes who thought they could beat up on whoever they wanted to in front of Kurogane made him angry.

"Hey!" shouted the bodyguard, startling the man enough that he froze with his knee half in the air instead of delivering the kick he was clearly about to. Kurogane took some large steps towards the two, and the man's eyes widened as he saw the six and a half foot giant loom towards him. The man seemed to get the picture, and hurried on his way without another glance back.

Grumbling to himself about how this kind of shit was too much trouble, he turned towards the boy who was busy collecting his things back into his basket. "You okay kid?" he grunted.

Suddenly the bodyguard was faced with large blue eyes, clear as the summer sky, and the biggest grin he'd ever seen in his life. "I'm doing great Mr. Huge, thank you!" 

Startled by the unexpectedly cheerful reply, Kurogane stuttered, "What- what did you just call me?!"

"Mr. Huge!" The boy giggled, his blonde hair shining in the street light. "Cause you're like, twice my size!"

"More like ten times!" Kurogane roared, wondering why he'd bother to help the annoying little twerp. This was exactly why he hated kids. They were loud, and obnoxious, and _giggled_.... hm... well, only girls giggled, but with that curly yellow hair that waved past his chin the kid might as well have been a girl. 

"YAY we agree!" Holding his basket high in the air, the boy spun around with a ridiculously happy twirl.

At this point, Kurogane would have huffed and hurried to be on his way, but that was when he noticed the blonde had no shoes.

The boy was out in ten degree weather, dancing upon the freezing cold asphalt, with his feet completely bare. 

It was the kind of shocking thing that would make anyone, even the third degree black belt, stop and stare. Kurogane wasn't the type to notice things about people. He didn't give a damn about people's clothes or cars or other status crap like that. But even without trying he could see why this kid'd been called a street rat. 

The blonde wore a bundle of layers, but they were just a bunch of oversized t-shirts and sweaters that for all their holes and stains, looked like they belonged in the trash. His pants were so wide they could have fit a man fifty pounds heavier, and were roughly torn at the bottom so they didn't drag. It was a wonder they stayed on. And though Kurogane had no need of such things, the shrimpy kid could really have used a hat or scarf or mitts, or even just some goddamn socks. 

He should have been freezing to say the least, but instead he was flapping around like some idiot. Kurogane was so busy grumbling about the rapidly increasing stupid people in the world that he didn't even notice when the kid twirled so close that he almost crashed into the much larger man. 

"Hyuu hyuu, that's an awful lot of wrinkles on your forehead, Mr. Red Eyes," laughed the blonde, and pointed up with this finger before the bodyguard could react.

"Did you just fucking poke me?!" Kurogane was beyond offended - he was pissed. _Don't hit him,_ he reminded himself, grinding his teeth, _That'll make you just as bad as that asshole from before._ "And stop calling me that shit! The name's Kurogane. It's Japanese, Kurogane, got it?!"

"You shouldn't cuss around kids, Mr. Spikey hair!"

"ARGH!! It's Kurogane! And you're not that young!"

"I'm fifteen, I'm just a baby," the kid winked at him, and gave the fakest looking pout ever.

"Fif-fifteen?!" The boy was only five years younger than him?! Well, now that he looked, the kid wasn't really that short. He was just short compared to Kurogane, but he still came up to bodyguard's shoulders, which meant he was a full head taller than Tomoyo. He was just so scrawny and malnourished it didn't look like there was much of him there.

"Oh yeah, here!" The teen reached into his basket and pulled out one of the things that had spilled earlier. "Today's your lucky day, cause I'm selling lighters," grinned the boy. "You should buy one, it'll make you less grumpy."

"I don't smoke!" Kurogane felt a vein pop.

"It's normally five dollars each, but since you saved me, I'll give you a special deal and give you _two_ for five dollars!" The boy held up the small plastic white tube that sort of looked like a candy dispenser. It was sort of misshapen, like the plastic had dripped down the side but in an intentional way.

". . . What the hell is it supposed to be?"

"It's an Advent candle! Isn't it great?" 

"It's after Christmas!"

"Yup, so now it's super rare! Hang onto this and it's sure to be a collector's item!" Those blue eyes shined as brightly as his beaming smile.

Kurogane couldn't figure out how this child could smile so happily in such cold. With those bare feet and rags for coverings, the kid was sure to freeze to death.

Sighing, the bodyguard took the silly light in his hand and pressed the tab, a little surprised to see the flame come up right away. It really did look like a candle, even with its tiny flame, and he wondered what the hell he was going to do with two of them. "Look, what's your name kid?"

The teen looked thoughtful, his lips curling into a w-shaped grin like a cat, as if he wasn't sure he knew the answer.

Quickly annoyed, Kurogane barked, "Don't you even know your own name?!"

"Um, Fai," the boy smiled so brightly his eyelids crinkled shut, his cheeks stretched painfully wide. "Call me Fai. ...Or if you want, you can call me Fai kitty!"

"Fuck no!" Kurogane shouted, but still reached into his pocket to fish out his money clip. "So what are you going to buy with this if I give it to you?"

Fai practically sparkled with excitement as he exclaimed, "Caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks!"

The older man frowned, feeling like the idiot really would. But normally that wasn't where money went in these types of situations, and he wasn't in the mood to fund whatever sort of sketchy crap the kid was probably involved in. Whether it was drugs for himself, or some sort of illegal scheme someone was forcing on him, for Fai to have a basket full of working lighters but not a simple pair of shoes was too messed up. 

"Okay, Fai, idiot, whatever - how about I only take one, and since I don't have any change, I'll give you this." Kurogane unhooked Tomoyo's scarf from around his arm, and swiftly wrapped it around the blonde's neck before he could refuse.

Fai looked a little startled, dropping the lighter back into his basket so he could finger the soft, warm fabric. The scarf was light blue, with these dainty snowflakes all over it (which was the main reason Kurogane refused to wear the damn thing), and for some reason seemed to fit the boy just right, the blue matching his irises perfectly as if it'd been made for him. Knowing Tomoyo, it probably had. 

"I - I can't take this, it's for your girlfriend -"

"Hell no she's not my girlfriend. And she forced it on me. I don't want it, I was just gonna throw it away."

The boy's eyes dropped to the ground, and the bodyguard could no longer see if the blonde was smiling. 

"But it's too nice for a street rat like me," Fai whispered, more to himself than to Kurogane.

"Pft, whatever." Kurogane picked a lighter out of the basket and flicked its switch a few times, wondering if Yuuko would take it, since she was the only one he knew that smoked. It was weird enough that the hellion would probably like it.

"Thanks for your patronage!" Fai suddenly shouted full force, his voice bursting with cheer as if to make up for his brief moment of woe. "I knew Mr. Tough Face had a heart!"

"I SAID MY NAME IS KUROGANE!" That was it, screw being the nice guy, this kid needed on a knock on the head.

"If you keep wrinkling your face, it'll stay that way," Fai giggled, twirling away like a ballerina. It was unbelievable how the rag clad teen, out of all people, could have so much energy on a winter day like this one.

"Oh look Mr. Kuro-heart, this snow is perfect!" Grinning, the blonde suddenly forced his basket off on Kurogane and took a dash towards the snowy roadside. He did a half turn when he was fully under a street light, then let himself fall carelessly back onto the gleaming white. "Snow angles!" Fai flapped his arms and legs, puffs of breathe rising into the air as he laughed. 

Kurogane checked his watch, scowling as he saw he'd missed his train, but he didn't really mind that much. He actually kind of did have a heart, and he could see that on top of being ragged and probably homeless and without shoes, Fai was also very lonely.

"Oi, blondie, is it okay for you to let me hold onto your goods?"

"Oh, it's fine," the boy said airily. "You're the only one who's bought any of them anyway."

Now that he was lying down on the ground, Kurogane could see Fai's feet quite clearly. The soles were black from rubbing on the asphalt, but what really irked him was how the toes were starting to turn dark blue. 

"It's really a pretty time, don't you think..." the blonde continued cheerfully, but his voice wound down as he relaxed into the snow. "It's all nice and warm now..." he sounded sleepy, his voice fading as he spoke. "Wouldn't it be nice to just fall asleep out here and dream..."

"No," the bodyguard growled, "And you're gonna get hypothermia sleeping out here, stupid!"

But Fai didn't respond. He chest rose in deep, long waves, that were slowly becoming longer.

"Oi, blondie." Kurogane frowned, wondering where all the kid's energy from a second ago had gone. "Get up and take back your candles."

Still no sound. It was eerie, after the ruckus Fai'd been making from the beginning. Kurogane felt a dark lump in his chest sinking, as he stared at those blackened toes, then up at the blonde's rosy cheeks that were starting to turn more pale.

He'd really fallen asleep.

Kurogane stood stupidly for a second, his heart starting to race as one thought crossed through his mind: He had to get Fai out of the snow. 

The basket of lighters dropped to the ground, the silly white tubes rolling out into the street. Kurogane scooped Fai up in his arms, wondering if there was anything he could do for those frost bitten toes, and went for taking the scarf and wrapping it around the blonde's feet. It was even more horrifying when the teen didn't stir, though it was pretty clear that he was breathing. 

Fai was a lot lighter than Kurogane had expected, and that was saying a lot. But the blonde was pretty lanky, limbs going this way and that, and if he had some meat on him he'd look like the teenager he was rather than a shrimpy little kid. It was awkward carrying him, but what worried Kurogane more was how cold and clammy Fai's skin was. The bodyguard cursed himself for getting so caught up in the kid's warm voice and smile and failing to notice how badly the blonde was really doing.

He thought about taking the kid to the police, but something about that just didn't seem right. Besides, who knew if they would properly take care of him, or just turn him back out onto the street?

So Kurogane made the stupidest decision he'd ever make in his life, and took the kid home.

* * *

The End.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, that's the end. ^^;; It was just a drabble. Errr... hope you liked. Daydream all you want about what happens next.
> 
> (As for filling the prompt... I think I made it too serious with barely any fluff. ^^;;; *showers with extra fluff*:
> 
> Kurogane: What the hell kind of story was that?!
> 
> Fai: Awe, the part at the end was so cute, with the big doggy taking in the stray kitty ~<3
> 
> Mokona: And while Kurogane nurses Fai back to health, they fall in love!
> 
> Kurogane: AND WHY THE HELL DO THEY HAVE OUR NAMES?!
> 
> Mokona: It's too hard to come up with names so this is easier!
> 
> Syaoran: I'm ... not sure the story goes like this.... I mean, the title is the Little Match _Girl_....
> 
> Sakura: I was thinking that too! Where was the part about the matches?)
> 
> THE END.


End file.
